Improvement in turbine water-wheels



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J EPTHA G. BOYLAND AND GEORGE BUOHAN AN, OF GRAWFORDSVILLE, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN TURBINE WATER-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 116,405, dated June 27,1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JEPTHA G. BOYLAND and GEORGE BUCHANAN, ofCrawfordsville, in the county of Montgomery and State of Indiana, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Water-Wheels and we do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the annexed drawing making part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan View. Fig. 2 is an elevationof the wheel and its sh aft detached from the casing. Fig. 3 is avertical section of the wheel complete. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section.Fig.

. 5 is a perspective view of the wheel detached.

The same letters of reference are used in all the figures in thedesignation of identical parts.

This invention relates to that class of turbine Water-wheels whichreceives and discharges the water vertically; and the improvementconsists in providing the buckets on the outer edge with a flangestanding at about right angles to the face of the bucket, to utilize theforce of the water, which, without these flanges, is expended upon thecasing of the wheel.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use our invention, wewill proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The wheel A is inclosed in a casing, F, covered by the crown'plate F.The wheel is firmly secured to the vertical shaft B, which rests on astep in the casing or house, and, passing up through a hub or tube, H,thereof, receives at its upper end the ordinary coupling 0. D D refer tothe buckets of the wheel, which are secured to the periphery of the bodythereof, and, extending radially therefrom, come with their outer edgesnearly in contact with the shell of the casing F. The buckets arearranged spirally on the body of the wheel in the ordinary manner. Eachis constructed with aflange, E, at its outer edge, which is turnedtoward the incoming column or current of water, and stands at aboutright angles to the face of the bucket so as to prevent the water, to anextent proportional to the width of the flange, from impinging againstthe casing, as is the case in the ordinary wheels, where the buckets arewithout these flanges. In this manner a large percentage of the power ofthe water is utilized which heretofore was expended and wasted againstthe casing. The width of the flanges varies with the size of the wheel.Over the buckets of the wheel is a concentric series of ports, a, a, inthe crown-plate of the casing, which ports are controlled by a circularhorizontal gate or wicket, G, provided with an equal number ofapertures, b b, and snugly fitted on the crown-plate. The gate isconstructed with a number of cogs on a segment of its periphery, and isrotated to open and close the ports a a by means of a pinion, G, whichis keyed to a vertical shaft I. The latter is mounted on a projcctingshelf of the casing, and provided at its upper end with a suitablehand-wheel, I, by which to operateit. The gate moves on suitableanti-friction rollers h.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

A water-W11 eel, substantially such as described, in which each bucket Dis constructed at its outer edge with a flange, E, running from the topto the bottom of the bucket, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

JEPTHA Gr. BOYLAND. GEORGE BUCHANAN.

Witnesses:

WM. H. LYNN, T. N. MYERS.

